Alloysius Attah grew up on one of the many maize farms in the Volta region of Ghana, under his aunt’s care. But after 15 years of farming, Attah knew very well the number of challenges small-scale farmers endure, and he wanted to do something about it.
The main challenge Ghanaian farmers face is that they have little or no access to farming information and services. Only those in the cities of Ghana have access to updates on market prices, growth innovations and weather patterns. For Ghanaian farmers in rural areas like Volta, predicting even the next day’s weather is difficult, and could mean a huge difference in revenue for the farm. Even when this information was available, it is usually not in languages farmers could understand, given Ghana’s vast language and dialect diversity.
Almost half of Ghana’s working population and its land are involved in farming. TheWorld Bank suggests that around 80 percent of agricultural output in Ghana comes from small-scale farms. Food security in Ghana is imperative to the country’s stability. When these farms succeed, the whole country succeeds. When they don’t, thousands of people struggle to get enough food to eat.
Attah wanted a way to help farmers receive the information they needed to help their farms thrive. As a young adult, he left his aunt’s farm and started learning how to code, pioneering a career in technology. In 2011, he realized cell phones were the answer. Cellular devices were becoming more popular in Ghana, and most farmers had access to at least a basic cell phone. Even the simplest devices could deliver prerecorded messages with the latest information on productive farming.
Attah began his start-up, Farmerline, and today, it has more than 200,000 farmers using its services to increase food security in Ghana and nine other African countries. The platform offers farmers several services, such as market prices, agricultural tips and weather forecasts in their own local language. It also connects potential buyers and businesses to the farmers, such as NGOs, global food companies and more through farm data, auditing, mapping and profiling services.
The company estimates that some farmers increased their revenues by more than 50 percent using Farmerline. This is a huge return, seeing that Farmerline only costs farmers $2-3 for a few months. The company created a gigantic agricultural network that reaches even more people in need of food. Farmerline broke down literature and language barriers in Ghana. Furthermore, because 80 percent of domestic food production comes from small-scale farms, food security in Ghana is steadily rising.
The company’s success was recognized with the King Baudouin African Development Prize. Along with two other start-ups, Farmerline won 367,000 Ghana Cedi to fund its business in early 2017. Attah is ecstatic with the win, and hopes to use the prize money to expand his business. The field of entrepreneurship in Africa is tricky, given high taxes and a lack of investors. Attah says there are plenty of successful start-ups in Africa, but transforming into a successful long-term business is nearly impossible without significant funding.
Up until now, Farmerline succeeded on the revenues of its customers and partnering NGOs, but the prize money will give it a new boost to take the company to the next level. Several investors and partners from other countries, including Mexico and Peru, have shown an interest in Farmerline’s technology. Attah welcomes the change. He ambitiously wants to help farmers all over the world. Attah hopes by 2020 he can have one million farmers using Farmerline and even more people breaking out of the poverty cycle as food security in Ghana and across the world improves.
– Sydney Cooney
Photo: Flickr
Working to End Neglected Tropical Diseases
Typically caused by inadequate sanitation and lack of clean drinking water, NTDs vary in their effect but can prove detrimental, especially in children. These diseases can impair intellectual development in children as well as cause blindness and other physical disabilities. The health costs are not the problem caused by NTDs, as they also reduce school enrollment and prevent economic progress because infected individuals are limited in ability. This is why it is critical to end Neglected Tropical Diseases.
USAID is leading the global fight against NTDs. It implemented large-scale treatment programs and research for the affected countries. In the past 10 years, the U.S. made great progress in this fight, giving more than $11.1 billion in donated medicines. This contribution provided more than 1.6 billion treatments to approximately 743 million individuals.
The U.S. impact does not end there. In addition to the treatment programs and research implemented by USAID, Congress also prioritized this issue by introducing the End Neglected Tropical Diseases Act (H.R. 1415).
H.R. 1415, sponsored by Representative Christopher Smith (D-NJ), advances the current program working against NTDs. This act prioritizes improving the current program by monitoring funding, including morbidity management in treatment plans and expanding research development. So far, this act has five cosponsors and was referred to three House sub-committees.
Although USAID led a strong battle against NTDs, there is still much work to be done for the one billion people affected by this problem. As NTDs are slowly eradicated, the livelihoods of the world’s poor will begin to improve as children can return to school and adults are able to achieve financial stability.
– Kelly Hayes
Photo: Flickr
Farmerline: Increase Food Security in Ghana
The main challenge Ghanaian farmers face is that they have little or no access to farming information and services. Only those in the cities of Ghana have access to updates on market prices, growth innovations and weather patterns. For Ghanaian farmers in rural areas like Volta, predicting even the next day’s weather is difficult, and could mean a huge difference in revenue for the farm. Even when this information was available, it is usually not in languages farmers could understand, given Ghana’s vast language and dialect diversity.
Almost half of Ghana’s working population and its land are involved in farming. TheWorld Bank suggests that around 80 percent of agricultural output in Ghana comes from small-scale farms. Food security in Ghana is imperative to the country’s stability. When these farms succeed, the whole country succeeds. When they don’t, thousands of people struggle to get enough food to eat.
Attah wanted a way to help farmers receive the information they needed to help their farms thrive. As a young adult, he left his aunt’s farm and started learning how to code, pioneering a career in technology. In 2011, he realized cell phones were the answer. Cellular devices were becoming more popular in Ghana, and most farmers had access to at least a basic cell phone. Even the simplest devices could deliver prerecorded messages with the latest information on productive farming.
Attah began his start-up, Farmerline, and today, it has more than 200,000 farmers using its services to increase food security in Ghana and nine other African countries. The platform offers farmers several services, such as market prices, agricultural tips and weather forecasts in their own local language. It also connects potential buyers and businesses to the farmers, such as NGOs, global food companies and more through farm data, auditing, mapping and profiling services.
The company estimates that some farmers increased their revenues by more than 50 percent using Farmerline. This is a huge return, seeing that Farmerline only costs farmers $2-3 for a few months. The company created a gigantic agricultural network that reaches even more people in need of food. Farmerline broke down literature and language barriers in Ghana. Furthermore, because 80 percent of domestic food production comes from small-scale farms, food security in Ghana is steadily rising.
The company’s success was recognized with the King Baudouin African Development Prize. Along with two other start-ups, Farmerline won 367,000 Ghana Cedi to fund its business in early 2017. Attah is ecstatic with the win, and hopes to use the prize money to expand his business. The field of entrepreneurship in Africa is tricky, given high taxes and a lack of investors. Attah says there are plenty of successful start-ups in Africa, but transforming into a successful long-term business is nearly impossible without significant funding.
Up until now, Farmerline succeeded on the revenues of its customers and partnering NGOs, but the prize money will give it a new boost to take the company to the next level. Several investors and partners from other countries, including Mexico and Peru, have shown an interest in Farmerline’s technology. Attah welcomes the change. He ambitiously wants to help farmers all over the world. Attah hopes by 2020 he can have one million farmers using Farmerline and even more people breaking out of the poverty cycle as food security in Ghana and across the world improves.
– Sydney Cooney
Photo: Flickr
Best Ways to Help the Homeless
Top 3 Ways to Help the Homeless
If the world works together to solve our poverty problem, we can help the homeless. To do this, people around the globe must first educate themselves about each issue and push for legislation that will improve the lives of the homeless population. Continuing to dispel stereotypes and volunteering time and items for nonprofit organizations are important steps to improve lives of others and make the world a better place.
– Rilee Pickle
Photo: Flickr
Child and Adolescent Mental Health in Sub-Saharan Africa
Ninety percent of malaria deaths, 70 percent of people with HIV/AIDS and 26 percent of tuberculosis cases are concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa. Against this background, mental health problems do not always raise concern. Mental illness accounts for 10 percent of the disease burden in sub-Saharan Africa.
The most common mental disorders in the region are depression and anxiety. The prevalence rates of depression and major depressive disorder in sub-Saharan African countries range from 40 to 55 percent. Among the child and adolescent populations of Sub-Saharan Africa, mental health issues are common. Fourteen percent have mental health problems and nearly 10 percent have diagnosable psychiatric disorders.
Poverty, warfare and disease have all been identified as vulnerabilities and risk factors to child and adolescent mental health in sub-Saharan Africa. In one study conducted in southern Sudan, researchers found that 75 percent of children there suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. There is a lack of evidence-based research on child and adolescent mental health in sub-Saharan Africa. However, a review of the literature indicates that psychological distress and mood, conduct and anxiety disorders are common among children who have experienced armed conflict.
In 2011 it was estimated that 90 percent of children infected with or directly affected by AIDS reside in sub-Saharan Africa. Rates of anxiety and depression are significantly higher in children who have been orphaned by AIDS than in other children. One study found that 12 percent of children orphaned by AIDS in rural Uganda had suicidal thoughts.
There are several challenges to providing quality mental health services in low- and middle-income countries. Two of these include cost and lack of research and needs-based assessments. Of all medical conditions, mental disorders are some of the most expensive to treat. In most sub-Saharan African countries, treatment facilities are limited in number and often inaccessible to much of the population. But without needs assessments and research demonstrating the value of providing effective treatments and services in the region, improving mental health care and its availability to those who need it remains a relatively low priority.
In recent years, mental health has been getting increased attention in sub-Saharan Africa and new efforts have been developed to improve mental health research and care in the region. In 2011, an association of research institutions and health ministries in Uganda, Ethiopia, India, Nepal and South Africa partnered with Britain and the World Health Organization to research the effect of community-based mental health treatment in low- and middle-income nations and to develop facilities and services in these areas.
Another effort is the Africa Focus on Intervention Research for Mental Health, which is working with several sub-Saharan nations on infrastructure development and has conducted a number of randomized controlled experiments to test affordable, accessible intervention methods for severe mental disorders.
This is only a small sample of the development efforts addressing mental health treatment and services in sub-Saharan Africa. Recognition of mental disorders’ significance in national health and more research on intervention will go a long way toward bettering child and adolescent mental health in sub-Saharan Africa.
– Gabrielle Doran
Photo: Google
4 Facts About Hunger in Kyrgyzstan
4 Facts About Hunger in Kyrgyzstan
Further Progress and Aid
UNICEF is also conducting humanitarian aid in Kyrgyzstan. Its work focuses on bettering child nutrition and has incentivized several breakthroughs in this field. Under its guidance, the country developed its inaugural National Food Security and Nutrition Strategy that directs government efforts to address hunger in Kyrgyzstan and offers children vitamins and minerals to fight malnutrition-induced iron-deficiency anemia. UNICEF first introduced the project in the Talas province, resulting in a 26 % drop in anemia rates between 2009 and 2010.
Shoring up these efforts are those of smaller nonprofit organizations, including the Red Crescent Society Kyrgyzstan and the Aga Khan Foundation. The former has worked with USAID to improve emergency preparedness and vaccination rates in Kyrgyzstan. The latter has pioneered the Mountain Societies Development and Support Programme, working with 520,000 rural Kyrgyz residents. The program links farmers to microfinancing companies and helps them to improve productivity and manage their livestock. Additionally, it provides early childhood development and primary school education services to young people.
These four facts about hunger in Kyrgyzstan show that the country has yet to eradicate hunger entirely. Local poverty rates and geographical landscapes complicate this task, affecting the well-being of the Kyrgyz children. However, the government and the nonprofit sector remain actively involved in alleviating hunger, striving for positive change.
– Dan Mikhaylov and Cole Zickwolff
Photo: Flickr
Updated: November 21, 2024
The High Cost of Living in Finland
According to calculations by the Global Property Guide, a bundle of goods and services costing one dollar in the U.S. would cost $1.03 in Finland. While this is lower than the U.K. and other Scandinavian countries, it is higher than most countries in the European continent.
While housing is usually reasonably priced, certain items drive up the cost of living in Finland. The country has a state-run monopoly on alcoholic beverages, which helps keep prices at 172 percent of the European average. Other items are similarly pricey. Food tends to cost 120 percent of the European average, which is due in part to a significant value-added tax. The average cost of a Coke or Pepsi is $2.44, while the average McDonald’s combo meal is $8.18. A gallon of milk costs about $4.10.
Finns bring home slightly more money in their paychecks than workers in the U.S. The average monthly salary in Finland is about $3,854, while the average monthly salary in the United States is $3,769.
As in most countries, the cost of living varies depending on where you live. The cost of living in the capital of Finland, Helsinki, is significantly more expensive than living in the rural areas. Housing prices in Helsinki are double the prices in the rest of Finland.
While Finns benefit from higher wages and quality education, the cost of living remains higher than in the U.S. or most European countries. Finns don’t seem to mind, though, seeing as Finland was recently ranked the fifth happiest country in the world.
– Brock Hall
Global Poverty Issues Addressed by United Nations Agenda 21
The United Nations used this meeting as a means to establish sustainable development as a global undertaking. U.N. Agenda 21 notes that people’s needs of today shouldn’t compromise the needs of future generations. It was then declared that the 1990s would be a “turnaround decade” in which leaders would work furiously to reverse the world’s most pressing issues.
The issues that the United Nations saw the world facing during the ’90s were so extreme that it was not certain that the future would be sustainable for generations to come. Climate change, water security and global poverty were among these issues, and the United Nations Agenda 21 leaders decided to meet again in Johannesburg, South Africa in 2002.
By addressing current global issues, the United Nations Agenda 21 acknowledges the damage that the world is currently facing and suggests optimal solutions for future generations.
The United Nations works to solve these problems at international, national, regional and sub regional levels, and they encourage people to act at the local level to help improve global conditions. Additionally, policies are implemented in different federal, state and local governments to help alleviate poverty, protect the environment and create a more sustainable world.
A key component of fighting global poverty and assisting developing countries is the United Nations improvement of access to exports. The expansion of exported goods allows developing countries to improve their market, thus reducing the amount of the population living in poverty.
By diversifying exports, the United Nations saw improvements reflected in production, prices and environmental, social and resource costs.
Although issues such as the diversity of exports had improvements since the making of Agenda 21, there is still a long way to go. The United Nations encourages civilians to do what they can at the local level. It also prompts leaders at the national and international level to address these pressing global issues and improve the future for generations to come.
As stated in the United Nations Agenda 21, “No nation can achieve this on its own; but together we can—in a global partnership for sustainable development.”
– Kassidy Tarala
Photo: Flickr
Much of South Korea’s Elderly Are Living in Poverty
The life span of South Koreans has increased, and so has economic difficulty for younger people in South Korea. This makes it much more difficult for the children of the elderly to provide for their parents in the way that South Koreans did before the 1990s.
Not only that, but the percentage of kids who believe they should take care of their ailing parents has fallen from 90 percent to 37 percent.
Benefits for the retired are not good, so even those who were financially successful during their younger days are living in severe poverty during old age.
Pensions in South Korea only add to about a quarter of the minimum household income, giving the elderly only around $200 per month. Not only that, but only around 35 percent of seniors receive any pension at all.
South Korea’s pension system did not begin until 1988, which leaves many elderly citizens without pension benefits. Even though the pension does not amount to a much, going without it makes living expenses even more costly for certain individuals.
Many elderly people in South Korea are trash collectors, attempting to scavenge up enough tossed goods to cash in for money so that they are able to buy medicine and food.
Most elderly citizens that have been interviewed feel they must perform odd jobs and find money on their own rather than asking for help. This may be because they were unable to properly provide for their children or they believe that no one owes them anything.
“You see on the news quite frequently elders who get killed by vehicles while picking up cardboard,” says Mr. Shin So Ho, manager of the grassroots organization Silver Volunteer Cooperation Associations.
On Thursdays, churches give out the equivalent of 50 cents to seniors, and it is reported that anywhere from 300 to 500 seniors show up to receive this free gift.
South Korea’s elderly are living in poverty because of these factors, but the most important factor that needs changing is government benefits in South Korea for the elderly.
– Noel Mcdavid
Photo: Pixabay
5 of the Most Common Diseases in Qatar
Diabetes
In 2013, the Action on Diabetes (AOD) initiative provided people in Qatar with a free diabetes test. There was a concern about high blood sugar in the adult population, and the speculations were justified. The tests found that about 16 percent of the adult population has diabetes. This common disease is an issue that demands action. In the AOD test, 86 percent of the people who discovered they had diabetes were unaware of their blood-sugar problem, according to the Gulf Times.
Ischemic Heart Disease
Ischemic heart disease was the number one killer of people in 2005, but it has since moved to the number two spot. Science Daily explains that “ischaemia means a ‘reduced blood supply,’” so this heart disease occurs when the blood supply to the heart is low. This common disease in Qatar can be prevented by regular exercise, a healthy diet and monitoring cholesterol and blood pressure.
Diarrhea
Although diarrheal diseases have been decreasing since 1990, cases still occur and cause other issues, sometimes resulting in death. Intestinal issues can be caused by diarrhea, killing 1.4 out of 100,000 people annually. With the help of advanced medicine, awareness of eating healthy and improved water quality, the incidence of diarrhea will continue to drop.
Respiratory Problems
In Doha, the capital of Qatar, there is very poor air quality, which is causing respiratory issues. Difficulty breathing and coughing, lung infection and other respiratory diseases are prominent in the city. Although not many people have been fatally affected by the air pollution thus far, Doha News estimates that more people will contract diseases and die,if the air quality is not addressed. Even natives are “unclear [as to] why Qatar’s high pollution levels don’t correlate to high levels of early death and/or disease.”
Cancer
Similar to the United States, cancer is a big threat to residents. The three most common types of cancer are cancer of the respiratory system, breast cancer and liver cancer. These three diseases “[make] up 36.4% of all deaths from cancer in Qatar.” Researchers and organizations in Qatar are working hard to promote cancer awareness and prevention for the future. The National Cancer Strategy has laid out a plan for awareness and hopefully advances in medicine so less patients have to travel abroad for treatment. Many people are working to eliminate cancer from among the most common diseases in Qatar.
A wealthy nation is not a perfect one, and Qatar is an example of a developed nation with its own struggles. However, with enough medical research, health education and environmental consciousness, these diseases in Qatar will continue to become less common.
– Sydney Missigman
Four Organizations Providing Free Education in Africa
Without access to education, these children mature without many options for their future, allowing the cycle of poverty to continue in countries such as Ghana, Gambia and the Congo. In response to this, several organizations have put forth different efforts to deliver quality education where little is available. Across different platforms, including online curricula, these organizations are innovating to establish programs for free education in Africa.
In areas where basic amenities such as electricity and transportation are in question, expanding education is necessary to ensure that children have access to learn basic skills to build the foundation of prosperity. In delivering education to areas that lack infrastructure, these organizations are playing a crucial role in fighting global poverty. Through providing free education in Africa, these initiatives help prepare the next generation to take on the challenges of the future.
– Nicholas Dugan
Photo: Pixabay